| The
Real Goatman And His Kin
By Damien
Jennings
Artwork Ricardo
Pustanio
The Goatman is a hominid
cryptid most commonly associated with Louisiana,
Maryland and Texas. It is described as a hybrid
creature; part man and part goat. Some claim
it is a relative of the New Orleans cryptid
the Grunch. The urban legends of them often
tells of it killing young lusting couples
in parked cars or scouring neighborhoods killing
family pets.
The strange little beast
has a undying want for for sex. it does not
discriminate against just having it's way
with man or woman. And often both are equal
prey as far as it is concerned. Many liken
the creature to being Pan like. With the upper
body of a human being, and the horns of a
goat. Others describe it as being a cross
between the two a mutant form to a large degree.
It is likely that the demonized images of
the incubus and even the horns and cloven
hooves of Satan, as depicted in much medieval
and post-medieval Christian literature and
art, were taken from the images of Pan.
Often known or called Satyrs (or Fauns) in
Cryptozoology, the Goatman of Maryland is
today associated with Governor’s Bridge
Road, Lottsford Road and Fletchertown Road,
in Prince George's County, and with the nearby
Glenn Dale Hospital, the former site of a
state tuberculosis sanatorium. It is reported
to have attacked a number of witnesses and
to have damaged property.
In Greek mythology, satyrs (in Greek, Sátyroi)
are a troop of male companions of Pan and
Dionysus— "satyresses" were
a late invention of poets— that roamed
the woods and mountains. In mythology they
are often associated with sex drive and vase-painters
often portrayed them with large strong throbbing
erections.
Pan is the Greek god of shepherds and flocks,
of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music:
paein means to pasture. He has the hindquarters,
legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner
as a faun or satyr. He is recognized as the
god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because
of this, Pan is connected to fertility and
season of spring. Pan is famous for his sexual
powers, and is often depicted with an erect
huge phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking
in jest, related the myth of Pan learning
masturbation from his father, Hermes, and
teaching the habit to his beloved shepherds.
He was believed by the Greeks to have plied
his charms primarily on maidens and shepherds,
such as Daphnis. Though he failed with Syrinx
and Pitys, Pan didn't fail with the Maenads—he
had every one of them, in one orgiastic riot
or another. To effect this, Pan was sometimes
multiplied into a whole tribe of Panes.
Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon
goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping
himself in a sheepskin to hide his hairy black
goat form, and drew her down from the sky
into the forest where he seduced her.
Pan's ancient Roman equivalent was Faunus,
and they were both Horned God deities. For
this reason he is popular among many Neopagans
and occultic groups.
In the 17th century, the satyr legend came
to be associated with stories of the orangutan,
a great ape now found only in Sumatra and
Borneo. Many early accounts which apparently
refer to this animal describe the males as
being sexually aggressive towards human women
and towards females of its own species. The
first scientific name given to this ape was
Simia satyrus.
The glaistig is a creature from Scottish
mythology. In most stories, the creature,
is described as a beautiful woman with dusky
or gray skin and long blonde hair. Her lower
half was that of a goat, usually disguised
by a long, flowing green robe or dress.
According to legends, the glaistig could
serve in legend as both a malign and benign
creature. Some stories have her luring men
to her lair via either song or dance, where
she would then drink their blood. Other such
tales have her casting stones in the path
of travelers or throwing them off course.
In other, more benign incarnations, the glaistig
is a protector of cattle and herders, and
in at least one legend in Scotland, the town
of Ach-na-Creige had such a spirit protecting
the cattle herds. The townsfolk, in gratitude,
poured milk from the cows into a hollowed-out
stone for her to drink. According to the same
legend, her protection was revoked after one
local youth poured boiling milk into the stone,
burning her. She has also been described in
some folklore as watching over children while
their mothers milked the cows and fathers
watched over the herds.
Another rendition of the glaistig legend
is that the glaistig was once a mortal noblewoman,
to whom a "fairy" nature had been
given or who was cursed with the goat's legs
and immortality, and since has been known
as "The Green Lady". In this incarnation,
she seems to be more benign, and watches over
houses and also looks after those of weak
mind as well. Such Green Lady myths have been
associated with a number of locations in Scotland,
including Ardnacaillich, Donolly Castle, Loch
Fyne, Crathes Castle and in Wales at Caerphilly.
A similar tale has also been told of Henniker,
New Hampshire.
A third tale synthesizes the two threads.
It tells of a mortal woman who lived on an
island near the Firth of Clyde and who was
smitten by the fairies and was granted her
unspoken wish to become one of them. Afterwards,
she dedicated herself to watching over the
cattle of the island until a farmer offended
her greatly through rude treatment and she
left, making her way to the mainland by leaping
to nearby islets before snagging her hoof
in the rigging of a passing ship. She, according
to this tale, fell into the ocean and presumably
drowned, or at any rate was never seen again.
The glaistig ("Glashtig") was a
Scottish mythical creature or hag.
It came in two forms, namely, firstly a kind
of satyr, a supposed she-hag or hag in the
shape of a goat, secondly, a kind of beautiful
female fairy, identical with the bean-nighe,
usually attired in a green robe, seldom seen
except at the bank of a stream, and engaged
in washing, also known as maighdean uaine
(green maiden). "Green" anciently
portended death, and many families had a green
ghost attached to them, such as Menie House
near Aberdeen.
The name is evidently cognate with the Manx
"glashtin", and is similar to the
"sacbaun" of Galloway.
In Roman mythology, fauns are place-spirits
(genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected
their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and
orgiastic drunken followers of Bacchus (Greek
Dionysus). However, fauns and satyrs were
originally quite different creatures. Both
have horns and both resemble goats below the
waist, humans above; but originally satyrs
had human feet, fauns goatlike hooves. The
Romans also had a god named Faunus and goddess
Fauna, who, like the fauns, were goat-people.
The Barberini Faun (Glyptothek, Munich, Germany)
is a Hellenistic marble, c. 200 BCE (Before
Common Era) that was found in the Mausoleum
of the Emperor Hadrian (the Castel Sant'Angelo)
and installed at Palazzo Barberini by Cardinal
Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII),
the patron of Bernini, who heavily restored
and refinished it, so that its present 'Hellenistic
baroque' aspect may be enhanced.
The goat-legged god Pan
pursues the Nymph Pitys who is transformed
into a pine tree. Museo Archeologico Nazionale
di Napoli, Naples, Italy
A modern account of several purported meetings
with Pan is given by R. Ogilvie Crombie (born
Edinburgh, lived 1899-1975), in the books
"The Findhorn Garden" (Harper &
Row, 1975) and "The Magic Of Findhorn"
(Harper & Row, 1975). Crombie claimed
to have met Pan many times at various locations
including Edinburgh, on the island of Iona
and at the Findhorn Foundation, all in Scotland.
“The
Real Goat Man” In America
Reports of the Goatman legend
began in Louisiana in the early 1800's and
in other parts of America sometimes. From
there, sightings spread to other states; with
reports of the Goatman being made as far south
as Texas in the 1960s, Washington and California
during the 1980s, and as far north as Ontario,
Canada and Cannelton, Indiana during the 1990s.
Others tell that around the 1950's, sightings
occurred in Upper Marlboro and Forestville,
Prince George's County, Maryland. Over the
years sightings have now been reported in
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma,
Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.The largest,
frequent and most frightening majority of
this strange cryptid sightings has been always
associated with the southern parts of the
United States. Sightings are numerous through
out the United States and often noted in the
months of October - May.
Since the 1970s, the Goatman has become the
subject of a number of popular urban myths
in the deep south. Myths vary, but the Goatman
preying on courting couples, or attacking
cars parked at the side of the road, are both
common themes. Florida sightings are sometimes
a little more strange and actual rape by the
creature is reported from male and female
victims alike.
Urban myths often put secret genetics programs
forward as a possible source of the Goatman.
Experiments by the federal government and
the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center,
Maryland, have both been suggested as possible
Goatman origins. Many tales tell of a strange
old man that had sex with his pack of goats
and produced the cryptid from this union originally.
The 19th century image of
Baphomet, created by Eliphas Lévi.
The arms bear the Latin words SOLVE (dissolve)
and COAGULA (congeal).
The goat on the frontispiece
carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead,
with one point at the top, a symbol of light,
his two hands forming the sign of hermetism,
the one pointing up to the white moon of Chesed,
the other pointing down to the black one of
Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony
of mercy with justice. His one arm is female,
the other male like the ones of the androgyn
of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had
to unite with those of our goat because he
is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence
shining between his horns is the magic light
of the universal balance, the image of the
soul elevated above matter, as the flame,
whilst being tied to matter, shines above
it. The beast's head expresses the horror
of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely
responsible part has to bear the punishment
exclusively; because the soul is insensitive
according to its nature and can only suffer
when it materializes. The rod standing instead
of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body
covered with scales the water, the semi-circle
above it the atmosphere, the feathers following
above the volatile. Humanity is represented
by the two breasts and the androgyn arms of
this sphinx of the occult sciences."
Levi called his image “the Baphomet
of Mendes”, presumably following Herodotus'
account that the god of Mendes — the
Greek name for Djedet, Egypt — was depicted
with a goat's face and legs. Herodotus relates
how all male goats were held in great reverence
by the Mendesians, and how in his time a woman
publicly copulated with a goat. However the
deity that was venerated at Egyptian Mendes
was actually a ram deity Banebdjed (literally
Ba of the lord of djed, and titled "the
Lord of Mendes"), who was the soul of
Osiris. Levi combined the images of the Tarot
of Marseilles Devil card and refigured the
ram Banebdjed as a he-goat, further imagined
by him as "copulator in Anep and inseminator
in the district of Mendes".
Two of the most notable satyrs of modern
America are the Pope Lick Goatman monster
of Kentucky and the creature called "Goatman"
which is usually associated with Maryland,
but this same label is sometimes applied to
sightings of satyr-like creatures from any
American state, regardless of how far away
from Maryland it is. Other creatures of interest
are the New Orleans Grunch, the Chevo Man
of California and the Marshall, Texas Goatman.
The southern "Goatman" is reported
as very sexually aggressive, especially towards
teenage lovers. It is often seen carrying
off bloody human body parts from accident
scenes, and its strange activities include
damaging cars and killing small helpless animals.
There are also unsubstantiated reports of
the Maryland and Louisiana Goatman known for
actually rape and killing male and female
humans indiscriminately.
The Pope Lick Monster is a half-man and half-goat
or half-sheep cryptid reported to live beneath
a Norfolk Southern Railway trestle over Pope
Lick Creek, in the Fisherville area of Louisville,
Kentucky.
Numerous urban legends exist about the creature's
origins and the methods it employs to claim
its victims. According to some accounts, the
creature uses either hypnosis or voice mimicry
to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet
their death before an oncoming train. Other
stories claim the monster jumps down from
the trestle onto the roofs of cars passing
beneath it. Yet other legends tell that it
attacks its victims with a blood-stained axe.
It has also been said that the very sight
of the creature is so unsettling that those
who see it while walking across the trestle
are driven to leap off.
Other legends explain the creature's origins,
including that it is a human goat hybrid,
and that it was a circus freak who vowed revenge
after being mistreated. In one version, the
creature escaped after a train derailed on
the trestle. Another version claims that the
monster is really the twisted reincarnated
form of a farmer who sacrificed goats in exchange
for Satanic powers.
The legends have turned the area into a site
for legend tripping. There have been a number
of deaths and accidents at the trestle since
its construction, despite the presence of
an 8 foot (2.4 m) fence to keep thrill-seekers
out.
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